The Wee Ones (or a Retelling of The Tale of the Princess and the Frog)
by Ely-Baby
Summary: [One-shot.] Being the youngest two of thirteen cousins can suck, especially when you're always too young to be included in what the others do. It's a good thing, then, that Hugo and Lily have each other.


**Disclaimers:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including, but not limited to, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. _A Christmas Carol_ is in the public domain.

 **Author's Notes:** Written for the Number Game Fest at rarepair_shorts. Beta-read by merelydovely and Nightfalltwen.

 **Warnings:** Cousin Incest.

* * *

 **The Wee Ones**

 **(or a Retelling of "The Tale of the Princess and the Frog")**

Lily stood under the oak tree at the far end of the Burrow, hands on her hips. The summer sun washed over her freckled shoulders and she knew that by sundown they would be pink. Nervously, she shifted from one foot to another, squishing tiny daisies with her bare toes. She wore an exasperated expression as the morning breeze whipped her long hair across her face. "I _said_ ,where is he?" she snapped.

Albus and Louis were busy towelling off their sopping hair and pretending not to hear her.

"Well?" she urged them, folding her arms across her chest.

"Oh, where do you think he is?" mocked Albus, grinning. "His clothes are there." He nodded towards the pond where Hugo's swimming trunks and his towel lay abandoned on the grassy bank.

"But I don't think they're going to fit him now," added Louis, before the two of them glanced at each other and burst into laughter.

Lily felt the desire to hex her brother and her cousin silly growing in her head. "You didn't!" she said.

"Oh come on," said Louis, "I think his appearance improves a great deal when he's all green and slimy."

Lily glared at them both before striding towards the pond to look for Hugo.

"And you always find him anyway," called Albus, sniggering. "It must be true love."

She stopped and turned to glare at him a bit more. "I always find him because your spellmanship is so bad that he's the only frog covered in freckles in the whole pond!" she screamed at him, before grabbing Hugo's towel and trunks and walking to the pond.

She could hear Albus and Louis laughing as they made their way back to the Burrow. She ignored them in favour of kneeling near the pond and looking around herself. "Hugo?" she called. "Hugo, I swear they left. And if they come back I promise I'm going to hex their fat arses." She placed a hand in the water and flapped it about to attract his attention. "I'll do it, I swear, I don't care if I'll end up in Azkaban because I'm underage," she went on. "Look what wizards of age do anyway! They should be sent to Azkaban too."

There was a rustling of reeds to her left and then a very abashed-looking frog with freckles and a mop of curly red hair was hopping sadly towards her.

"Aww," she sighed, lowering her hands to the ground to let him hop on. She brought him to eye level and he closed his dark ones, blushing a dark green colour. "Don't you worry, Hugo," she told him gently, "we're going to tell Grandma." She shifted him on the palm of one hand and rubbed her finger between his eyes. He seemed to sigh and smile a bit, but it was difficult to tell with his toady mouth.

"Are you ready?" she asked in a whisper.

The frog sighed again and looked at her.

She closed her eyes and brought her lips to the slimy top of the Hugo's head, placed them on the cold skin, and gave him a firm kiss.

As always, there was a white light and a gust of wind, and then Hugo was crouching next to her. "I hate them," was the first thing he said as he grabbed his trunks from her hands and donned them. Then he looked at her and smiled. "Thank you."

He spread his towel on the grass and sat down on it, patting it to let Lily know that he wanted her to sit next to him. She did, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leaning his head on top of hers as she pressed herself against him.

"I thought you were going to do girly things with the girls," he murmured, playing with her flaming locks.

She sighed. "Roxanne was spilling the beans about her first time with John," she replied sourly, "so, of course, I'm too young to hear anything about that and they sent me away and locked the door."

Hugo's head tilted back and she turned to look at him. He was grinning down at her. "Oh Merlin," he said with a chuckle, "if only they knew…"

She tried to pout at his words, but he lowered his head to kiss the frown away. She placed a hand on his lips before they could reach hers though, and he blinked at her, surprised.

"You solemnly swear that you haven't eaten any flies?" she asked suspiciously.

He placed his hand on his chest, right over his heart. "Solemnly swear," he muttered from behind her palm.

Her hand slid away from his mouth and he smiled, before lowering his head again and pressing his lips against hers. He cupped her cheeks, brushed his nose against hers, and kissed her as thoroughly as he always did.

When he let her go, she said, "And I thought you were going to swim with your brilliant cousins."

"I knew there was something off when they insisted I went with them," he admitted. "And they're your cousins too, for your information."

"Not true—one of them is my brother," she replied calmly. She leant her head on his shoulder and looked at the pond where mosquitoes left delicate little circles on the water.

"You know what we should do?" said Hugo suddenly.

She nodded. "Ask Vicky to turn Al and Lou into a pair of Blast-Ended Skrewts," she sighed, "and then give them to Hagrid as pets."

He chuckled. "Who's my sweet, vindictive little witch?"

She punched his shoulder, then kissed it. "What should we do?" she asked softly.

He wrapped both arms around her now, pulling her to his chest as he lay down on the towel. She closed her eyes and leant her head against warm skin.

"We move out of the Burrow," he started in a murmur, "and we build a treehouse." She felt him raise an arm, probably to point to a tree. "There," he went on. "With a big bedroom and a soft bed; a nice kitchen with a refrigerator that is always magically full; and a terrace where we can sip our Butterbeers at the end of a tiring day filled with Chocolate Frogs eating contests and Exploding Snap. And we put on anti-Al, anti-Lou, anti-Rosie, anti-Freddie, anti-Jamie, anti-Dom, anti-Roxie, anti-parents and anti-grandparents wards."

She smiled and drew some lazy circles over his chest. "That sounds like a bit of a hassle for three months a year," she giggled.

He raised a finger until it brushed against her nose. "That's where you're mistaken, my little witch," he told her, "it's not just for three months a year. It's going to be our house."

"Forever?" she asked, chuckling. "Who says I want to live in a treehouse all my life?"

"The right answer would be, _Oh, I'd love for it to be our house, Hugo! And I don't care where I live, as long as I am with you_ ," he said in a high-pitched tone.

She couldn't help laughing at that and he joined her as he hugged her to his chest.

"Hugo! Lily!" Grandma's magically amplified voice called out from all the way back at the Burrow. "Lunch is almost ready."

"Coming, Gran!" She pushed against his chest and stood up, brushing grass from her legs.

"Do we really have to go?" groaned Hugo. "I'd rather not sit across from Al and Lou throughout the whole meal as they keep asking me if I want something more to my liking." He gave Lily a pointed look. "Namely, flies."

She grinned and stretched a hand towards him to help him to his feet. "Let them try," she said, while he picked up his towel. "I'll tell Gran that they Transfigured you again. She'll flip out."

He groaned again, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they made their way to their grandparents' house. "Because you protecting me won't give them another excuse to have a laugh at me," he muttered.

She pushed on his chest and wriggled free of his arm. "Then you should protect yourself," she said, grinning, "you oversized toad."

He opened his mouth wide before smirking at her. "You'd better run," he told her, "because I'm going to make you pay for that."

She let out a squeal and started running. Hugo chased her all the way back to the Burrow. When he caught up, he grabbed her, twirling her around, and Lily couldn't stop laughing.

She thought that perhaps it wasn't so bad that their older cousins didn't want them around. After all, they were perfectly fine by themselves.

FIN


End file.
